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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think it suddenly seems 'the in-thing' to suffer with bi-polar?

439 replies

Champersonice · 14/04/2011 10:21

This is really getting to me. Perhaps these 'celebs' really are suffering with bi-polar but I remember the days when it was the biggest taboo. My mother suffers with this illness and it is just awful.

There have been so many and whilst I really believe some I really do not believe Kerry Katona and now Catherine Zeta-Jones. Apparantely, CZJ booked herself into a psychiatric hospital for becoming manic-depressive following her husband's cancer, and now, according to her publicist is "feeling great and looking forward to starting work this week on two upcoming films". Perhaps Ms Zeta-Jones should visit a real psychiatric hopsital (not a detox clinic) and see real life patients suffering with this terrible, terrible illness.

AIBU?

OP posts:
lesley33 · 14/04/2011 11:44

OP YADNBU I have often felt the same when some celebs talk about having bipolar. Although you can't diagnose bipolar from an interview on tv, the symptoms some celebs talk about having don't point to bipolar at all - e.g. only talking about symptoms of depression.

Of course I accept that there are some celebs who do have bipolar.

FanjOeuForTheMammaries · 14/04/2011 11:44

Its a bit childish to post on aIBU then go all huffy at people who disagree with you and applaud those who agree with you IMO

ShirleyKnot · 14/04/2011 11:45

yy Jenai. My dad had MH issues (clinical depression) and I am convinced that by the end of his life he was suffering from Bi-Polar. Manic, manic highs followed by crushing lows. So crushing that he ended up taking his own life.

Isn't there evidence to suggest that MH issues can worsen and indeed change if left untreated? Or is it the case that misdiagnosis is rife, which leaves the condition untreated which then leads to further symptoms?

scottishmummy · 14/04/2011 11:46

precipitating factors eg stress are triggers,but they are not causal.hence the individual impact and degree and severity of mental illness is experienced differently by all people. whilst one may have a propensity to mental illness or previous episodes doesn't mean every single stressor will result in a full blown episode. sometimes through self regulation and awareness people can tell they may be in vulnerable state and seek help early,this may offset severity of episode

EricNorthmansMistress · 14/04/2011 11:50

'The way the story was reported on R4 this morning, it sounded as if CZJ had developed a touch of the bipolars as a result of her husbands illness, took herself to a clinic and now everything's fine. It all seemed so cut and dried. Hence I too was a bit '

That's how the publicists will have spun it. They don't want hollywood studios getting scared that the 'crazy' CZJ will not be able to work or will be unreliable or unpredictable, could really damage her career. People may be wary to work with her. Unfair but true. They will spin it as a little 'episode' - a blip, with a clear 'cause' (DH's illness) and 'cure' (spell in clinic). We have no idea how long she has been diagnosed, how well managed, what meds she takes - maybe stress has caused her to miss meds, or drink more, or just made symptoms worse and she needed a little hospital time to get steady. I knew a man with BPD who was generally stable except when something very stressful happened when he would check himself into hospital to be more managed.

We have no idea about this situation and these are celebs with the most expensive spin doctors working for them.

lesley33 · 14/04/2011 11:50

Shirleyknot - Yes untreated bipolar tends to get worse. I don't know if your father had bipolar, but "only" having extreme mood swings wouldn't IMO mean that your father had bipolar. So it really means what you mean by the word "manic". With bipolar "manic" really means losing touch with reality at the same time as having very extreme up moods.

EvenLessNarkyPuffin · 14/04/2011 11:51

The OP has posted this crap in the mental health section as well.

lesley33 · 14/04/2011 11:52

ericnorthmansmistress - You may be right and this is down to a pr spin. But It doesn't help the general public's understanding of bipolar.

squeakytoy · 14/04/2011 11:54

My FIL had bi-polar, but you rarely saw his extreme mood swings as he managed to control it / hide it very well.

Too well, because sadly he took his own life. :(

He was a very private person, and would not find it easy to talk to anyone about how he was feeling, and would not accept any help from the doctor who was aware of his illness, but could not force him to take medication. He would get a prescription, but refuse to take any of the pills.

lesley33 · 14/04/2011 11:54

EvenLess - I don't think the OP has posted "crap".

scottishmummy · 14/04/2011 11:54

it really irks that people just cast aspersions about mental health with no acknowledgement of the harm,hurt that causes.no wonder stigma is so prevalent

i shall trot over to mh too then when i can.but i am at work

Original poster
Champersonice · 14/04/2011 11:54

Fan, being told I am a tw*t is very different to being told YABU.

Sprinkling, perhaps it is the wrong place but my, I didn't not expect this response, so maybe it is the right place!

Lesley33, I think social circumstances can be a factor but not sole cause.

Jenai, as Lesley33 said, it could be a trigger but not a cause.

Scottish, noooo that is exactly what I am challenging and not saying! I am not saying it is trendy, quite the reverse! It appears to be the current trend to say one has the illness. I am not saying suffering is trendy.

Steps101, thank you for the correction! Bipolar it is. I actually don't like this name, much prefer the old 'manic depression' label. Says exactly what it is - no misunderstanding, everyone understands.

OP posts:
Animation · 14/04/2011 11:56

"Every psychiatrist she has seen since has initially been scepitical of the diagnosis until they have confirmed it themselves - they all have.

This is because unfortunately bipolar is sometimes wrongly diagnosed. Drug abuse can mimic bipolar symptoms and others can have other mental health problems that are wrongly diagnosed."

I think psychiatrists do find it a difficult one to diagnose - it can take a number of years - but generally, like you say, nothing to do with drugs and alcohol causes.

EricNorthmansMistress · 14/04/2011 11:56

I daresay her priority isn't about improving the gen pop's understanding of BPD - rather her own career. Also it's not even her, it's her publicists who will be giving this shit out and she will be led by them completely. They are paid to protect her career not raise awareness of mental illness.

I feel for her (as much as I ever do for an A list sleb!) she deserves a little privacy, not internet bods debating whether she has made up her illness to be trendy.

Original poster
Champersonice · 14/04/2011 11:58

Hahaha people get off on throwing insults at me. As I said, I can accept being told YABU, but as for some of the OPs, just plain rudeness on their part.

I think this debate is touching a nerve for some.

Yes, I did post it in MH too but why not?

OP posts:
dearyme · 14/04/2011 11:58

she deserves a little privacy

so hopefully we wont be seeing her swanning around Oprah et al doing the woe is me act then

ShirleyKnot · 14/04/2011 11:59

lesley - dad was due to go into hospital for some help, but unfortunately he died before that happened (I think the hospital was the tipping point for him actually) anyway, the "care" he received was absolutely SHITEOLA and his GP couldn't diagnose a broken arm if the bone was sticking out!

His highs were definitely connected to a loss of touch with reality and encompassed lots of "checkmarks" of bipolar. Anyway, not that any of that matters. I think it's pretty shitty to call such a serious disorder the latest "in thing".

steps101 · 14/04/2011 12:00

"I actually don't like this name, much prefer the old 'manic depression' label. Says exactly what it is - no misunderstanding, everyone understands."

IMO if anything's misleading, it's the term "manic depression," which implies depression with manic features, which is relatively rare. Bipolar is far clearer, in my opinion: it acknowledges that the illness is characterised by moods at either pole of the spectrum.

lesley33 · 14/04/2011 12:00

I agree Animation I think it is difficult to diagnose. I think because some of the symptoms are the same as some other mental health problems e.g. depression as well as symptoms of drug and alcohol abuse.

It can be more difficult to diagnose if people with bipolar use drugs or alcohol to try and deal with the symptoms. But drugs and alcohol in these cases don't cause the symptoms.

SueSylvesterforPM · 14/04/2011 12:01

this will be a controversial thread

ShirleyKnot · 14/04/2011 12:03

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by Mumsnet.

lesley33 · 14/04/2011 12:06

ShirleyKnot Yes bipolar is an awful illness and anyone who has experience of it wouldn't see it as "in thing" or a "trendy" thing. But I do think it has become a bit trendy.

I have heard teenagers (who I work with) saying they have felt a bit "bipolar" this week. What they actually mean is that their mood has been up and down. But I totally understand how people with genuine bipolar can be annoyed and upset at having a serious illness described in this way - even though it is ignorance that causes statements like these.

I also think there seems to be a rise in people self diagnosing with bipolar who have no real understanding of the illness - that isn't aimed at you, it sounds as if your dad probably did have it. But some people seem to think bipolar is "only" about mood swings, which it isn't.

Original poster
Champersonice · 14/04/2011 12:06

Bi = two
Polar = opposites

So, where in two opposites do you get the understanding of the illness? Manic depression IMO does make sense. If I say MD people tend to understand but I have lost count of the amount of people asking me to explain BP.

Mania is awful, depression is awful. This depression isn't the kind of depression non-sufferers get when they feel a little low. This is a deep, deep, dark depression that I cannot put into words. Also, FMI, mania isn't necessarily a 'happy' time...it is scary to see.

OP posts:
lesley33 · 14/04/2011 12:07

Agree totally champers.

EricNorthmansMistress · 14/04/2011 12:08

lesley - but people say they are depressed when they mean sad, paranoid when they mean worried, having a panic attack when they mean anxious, skitzophrenic when they mean inconstant - that's just misappropriation of the terms and no exclusive to BPD. Doesn't mean it's the 'trendy' thing to be.